Rail-joint.



Patented July 14, 1914;.

o m M \3/ W\ W M/ NQNI W m N m W .B. G. BRAINE.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.31,1913.

UNITED STAWENT ormcn.

BANCROFT Gr. BRAINE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL JOINT COMPANY,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

nnrnzromrr.

Application filed March 31, 1913.

T0 (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, BANCRO'FT G. BRAINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail- Joints, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in rail oints, and has for its object a novel and practical combination of features which provide a rail joint possessing great strength and stiffness combined with adjustability and resilience.

To this end the invention contemplates an improvement wherein a rail joint bar is combined with a separate rail-supporting base plate and a wooden or equivalent filler member, preferably of the reversible type, whereby a joint of maximum strength and efficiency is obtained while at the same time permitting free endwise movement of the rail ends in the oint, thus allowing for contraction and expansion.

Also, the improved construction is intended to insure positive and permanent alinement of the joint and the rails and to pro vide a means for absorbing the noise and vibration of the joint parts, as well as to provide a nut lock for the nuts of the bolts, together with other features of practical advantage that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art as the details of the invention are fully understood.

The essential features of the invention, involving the features of improvement above indicated, are susceptible of structural modification, and adaptation to rail joints of both the standard and insulated types, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, but a preferred and practical embodiment of the latter is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a rail joint, of the standard type, constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the improved rail joint, at the center of the joint.

Like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings. a

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the rail joint includes in its general organization the rail ends R, the opposite side joint bars A and B, the usual Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 14, 1914.

Serial No. 757,948.

joint bolts and a separate rail-supporting base plate 1 clamped in effective position beneath the rails and extending throughout the entire length of the joint.

Each of the joint bars A and B is of angle bar formation and is provided with a main upright splice member 2 disposed within the fishing spaces of the rails and having at its upper edge a bearing head 3 for engagement beneath the head of the rail, and formed with the lower edge of the splice member 2 is an inclined foot flange 4 overlying and engaging the rail base flange.- In addition to clamping shoulders, upon which shoulders rest the opposite edge portions ofthe separate rail-supporting base plate '1. In the type of rail joint illustrated, this separate base plate 1 is provided at one side edge with a shoulder 7 which abuts against the edge of the rail flange, and, in conjunction with the inside spikes, serves to hold the joint and rails in alinement. Also, the said base plate may be of a corrugated form, as indicated by the reference character 8 of the drawings, that is to say, it may be provided with one or more grooves or depressions and corresponding elevated bearing surfaces, thus giving it stiffness and strength with a minimum of material, while at the same timethe corrugated form of base plate is of practical importance in providing grooves for receiving sand, cinders, or other gritty foreign substances which might collect between the rail base and the base plate, to cause excessive wear unless removed. However, it will be understood that this is not a necessary feature of the invention as the latter may be carried out with base plates either of a plain or of the corrugated type.

The base plate 1 is of a greater width than the width of the rail bases so as to project a distance beyond the rail flanges at the innor side of the joint, and in connection therewith, the inside joint bar B is sheared ofi at the ends of its depending portion 5 as inclithe oppositely located abutment shoulders 7 of the base plate, insure positive and permanent alinementof the joint and of the rails. The central portion of the inside projectingedge of the separate base plate 1 is notched out as a, 11 to receive the depending portion 5 of the inside bar B,

thereby providing an interlocking between the saidbar and the base plate which prevents any relative endwise movement.

The structural characteristicsof the outside joint bar A and the elements cooperatmg therewith areof special importance in the present invention. In this connection it is to be observed that the outsi debar A, in addition to the features of construction specified is provided at its upper edge with a laterally projecting reinforcing top flange 12 which extends to, a distance beyond the outer sides of the rail heads, and is provided on its under surface with an, inclined bearing face 13 corresponding to the inclined bearing face l t at the upper sideof the foot flange-it ofthejoint bar, andpreferably disposed at the same angle as the latter, thus providing thejoint bar A with a longitudinal channel at the outer side thereof which is adaptedto accommodate therein a wooden or equivalent compressible filler member or bl0 ck15. v j I v.

The ,filler member or block 15 is preferably of the reversible type, that is capable of being reversed end for end or top for bottom, ai'idto provide for this the said filler member or block is of a symmetrical formation, the same being formed at top and bottom with double similar inclined bearing surfaces 16 which are adapted to respectively engage the bearing faces 13 and 14 of the joint bar A, and the upper and lower inside bearing surfaces 17 and lS of a channeled boltstrap 19 capping the outside portion. of the filler member or block; The said bolt strap 19 is preferably made of channel form with top and bottom flanges respectively overlying and underlying the filler, thus protecting the latter to a large degree from moisture and other destructive agencies,and adding to the compactness and rigidity of the joint. As indicated, these top and bottom flanges of the bolt strap are preferably disposed at an angle equal to the angle of the under surface of the top flange 12 and the upper surface 1% of the foot flange 4c of the outside joint bar A to admit of the reversible functions. of the filler. In addition to its reversibility, it will be noted that the compressible filler forms a nut lock and absorbs noise and vi bration of the joint parts, and allows free endwise movement of the rail ends in the joint, thus allowing for contraction and expansion, while the channeled bolt strap also helps to compactly bind together the entire joint structure.

I claim: v

1. A rail joint, comprising in combination with the rails, a base plate, opposite joint bars having a clamping engagement with the base plate, and one of which is provided, with a channeled outer side, a com,-

pressible filler member seated in said chanr neled outer side of one of the joint bars, and a channeled bolt strap receiving the outer side and top and bottom of the filler.

2. it rail joint, comprising in combination with the rails, a base plate, opposite joint bars having a clamping engagement with the base plate, and one of which bars is provided with a channeled outer side, a reversible compressible filler member registering within the channeled bar, and a channeled bolt strap also receiving the filler and having its flanges disposed at corre sponding angles to the angular faces of the filler.

3. A rail joint including in combination with the rails, a joint bar having a channeled outer side, a reversible filler registering with the channel of said bar, and a channeled bolt strap receiving the filler and having itsflanges disposed at a corresponding angle to the angular faces ofthe filler.

r In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

BANCROF'I" G. BRAINE. \Vitnesses:

E. T. SCHERMERHORN, K. MoNALLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G." 

